Lino BIANCO Pedagogy of Poetics of Architecture in Contemporary Georgia Lino BIANCO University of Malta, Msida, Malta University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Sofia, Bulgaria Abstract: The idea of using poetry and literature as channels to contemporary architectural design dates back to the last years of the 1980s when the poetics of architecture was recognised as an academic discipline. In the West, the first publication on the subject was released in 1990. Concurrently, although independently, the studio-workshop bearing the same title of this discipline was set up by Shota Bostanashvili at the Technical University of Georgia. Paper architecture, a movement developed in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was the preferred medium utilised to teach architecture at the studio-workshop. This workshop, which is still run today by David Bostanashvili, introduced metacultural discourse in architecture. The Bostanashvilis’ poetics of architecture is based on a triad, namely Image-Name-House. For Shota Bostanashvili, poetics of architecture meant the relationship between ideas, words and things. For David Bostanashvili, it meant an interdisciplinary theoretical framework wherein the concept of Image refers to phenomenology, that of Name refers to semiotics, and House infers the philosophical reflections on architecture. Keywords: semiotics, phenomenology, paper architecture, Bostanashvili, Antoniades, Davitaia, Georgia. Introduction Prior to its independence from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Georgia had to abide by the policies of the federal Northern Eurasia socialist state. This applied not only to architectural practice but also to the education curriculum of schools of architecture. The dissolution of the USSR saw the emergence of architectural creativity which had sprouted during the Brezhnev era in reaction to the sterile attitude of the Soviet state towards architecture.1 One movement related to paper architecture, a movement inspired by Japanese architectural magazines, which promoted designs of buildings not intended to be erected. In the USSR, the concept dates back to the 1970s and by 1989 it had developed into a movement.2 In Georgia, the roots of the academic discipline entitled ‘poetics of architecture’ lie in the 1990s. It developed from the studio-workshop which bore this name and is still taught at the Faculty of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design of the Georgian Technical University (GTU).3 This academic initiative was set up by Shota Bostanashvili (1948-2013) at the GTU’s Institute of Architecture (the forerunner of the present faculty) in 1990, just a few months 1 L. Bianco, “Contemporary Georgian architectural theory and practice: The legacy of Shota Bostanashvili”, in Architecture, City and Environment, 15 (2020), no. 43, 9019. 2 J. Giovannini, “A Funny Thing Happened to Soviet Architecture”, in The New York Times (28 May 1989) (https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/28/arts/architecture-design-funny-thing- happened-soviet-architecture-photo-ascencion.html, accessed: 18.05.2020). 3 G. Mikiashvili, Faculty of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design 1922-2012, Tbilisi, Georgian Technical University, 2013. 61 “Pedagogy of poetics of architecture in contemporary Georgia”, Astra Salvensis, VIII (2020), no. 15, p. 61-74. after Georgia broke with its Soviet past.4 Indeed, the first design, dated 1989, was the Seafaring Pilgrims (Fig. 1), a conceptual project of six floating islands each supporting a chair, which won a prize in an international competition entitled ‘A Space for XXI Century Civilisation’.5 The chairs, which symbolise repose and dialogue between cultures, represented the five major religious faiths plus nature. Shota Bostanashvili, hereafter referred to as Bostanashvili Sr, was a practicing architect, academic and cultural theorist with a special focus on the poetics of architecture. His professional and academic career spread over four decades, divided approximately between the eras of Soviet and Post-Soviet Georgia. The current academic chair is held by Bostanashvili’s son and former student, David, hereafter referred to as Bostanashvili Jr. In 1990, the first comprehensive publication entitled Poetics of Architecture: Theory of Design appeared in the United States.6 This text, authored by the practicing Greek architect Anthony Antoniades, an academic at the School of Architecture of the University of Texas since 1973, proposed poetics of architecture as a distinct theory of architectural design. The aim of the present paper is to delineate the evolution of the notion of poetics of architecture and its application in architecture pedagogy in post-Soviet Georgia up to the present day. Following a brief overview of Antoniades’ classical text, this article delves into Bostanashvili Sr’s comprehension of the discipline and how his ideas are being developed further by Bostanashvili Jr. Illustrations of architectural designs produced at the studio-workshop under its two directors are used to support their respective readings of poetics of architecture. Antoniades’s Poetics of Architecture Based on two decades of architectural design studio experience, the publication Poetics of Architecture: Theory of Design aimed at enhancing versatility and creativity in architectural design through a better comprehension of the imaginative process. For Antoniades, “Architecture has been the container of life; yet it has seldom been a true reflection of life. It has the peculiar characteristic of being to a great extent a ‘petrified form’ in space, in a particular time. … Architecture is fixed in form, location and shape; … the major container and structure of architecture, after a building is built, will remain the same for many years to come”.7 In his publication, Antoniades presents the poetics of architecture as a theory of architectural design in two parts, each consisting of seven chapters, respectively covering intangible and tangible channels of architectural 4 L. Bianco, “Shota Bostanashvili, architectural discourse and the foundation of poetics of architecture in Georgia”, in Papers of BAS: Humanities and Social Sciences, 4 (2017), no. 1, p. 49-59. 5 G. Stanishev, “A Space for the 21st Century Civilisation”, in World Architecture, (1989) no. 3, p. 68-71. 6 A. C. Antoniades, Poetics of Architecture: Theory of Design, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990. 7 Ibidem, p. 293. 62 Lino BIANCO imagination and creativity. These channels are media through which meaningful inclusive architectural design can be attained, media which serve as crucibles of creative foci. Drawing on Modern and Postmodern design philosophies, the text presents poetics of architecture as an inclusive approach that underpins architectural design to enrich physical and metaphysical environs ranging from spatial to sensual to spiritual domains. The themes covered in the category ‘intangible channels’ include the process of creativity and metaphor. Paradoxes and metaphors are presented as channels of creativity. Following a discussion on the channel of transformation as a medium, the book addresses the element of the obscure (primordial and untouched), poetry and literature, the exotic and the multicultural. Themes in the ‘tangible channels’ include history, historicism and the study of precedents, followed by mimesis and literal interpretation, geometry, materials and the role of nature in architectural creativity. Antoniades argues for a poetics of architecture which transcends contemporary architectural thought. He undertook theoretical and analytical case-studies of work by Alvar Aalto, Gunnar Asplund, Luis Barragán, Ricardo Legorreta and Jörn Utzon. Furthermore, he laid special emphasis on building materials illustrated through the works of a number of architects including Aalto, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn. Antoniades argues for an inclusive approach to history as the optimal way to select appropriate precedents; moreover, to develop a given style, the architect must necessarily comprehend and address its historical significance. The publication concludes by discussing the significance of creativity through its association with other arts and artists, and the importance of architectural biographies as a means to achieve all-inclusive creativity in architectural design: “The poetics of architecture begins with the architect’s mind; his or her creative life is a trip through inclusivity. All the rest, including immortality for the very few, will depend on the enthusiasm, imagination, and creativity of the beholder”.8 Antoniades argues for a transformational attitude through the methodology of simultaneity.9 The term inclusivity is central to his approach. It implies the holistic domain of creative channels through which an architect expresses his/her ideas; it is “the odyssey of the architect who will eventually come to know what it takes, why and when one is there”.10 Shota Bostanashvili’s poetics of architecture For Bostanashvili Sr, the poetics of architecture is an innovative and creative approach to teaching architecture. It offers an opportunity for imaginative thinking and artistic expression about space, and provides insights into matters relating to the philosophy of culture. Bostanashvili Sr’s vision for 8 Ibidem, p. 295. 9 A. B. Mandal, “Book Review: Poetics of Architecture by Anthony C. Antoniades”, in Archinomy. Retrieved on 30 May 2020 from https://www.archinomy.com/case-studies/book-review- poetics-of-architecture-by-anthony-c-antoniades/ 10 Ibidem. 63 “Pedagogy of poetics